MESA, Ariz. – It was supposed to be a two-hour Shakespearean comedy show attended by 700 sixth- through 12th-graders.

But it was not to be.

About 40 minutes into a touring company’s performance of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” a Higley Unified School District official halted the show Monday at a performing arts center.

“We stopped the show because we feel that this was inappropriate,” said Tara Kissane, the district’s director of visual and performing arts. She declined to give specifics but said “there was inappropriate language and the content was very suggestive.”

The play was produced by a New York-based touring company, Windwood Theatricals. Paul Bartz, the producer, said he was surprised to learn the performance was stopped.

Thinking about the early parts of the play, Bartz said, “The only thing I can think of that she might have found objectionable is that there is the use of the word penis, twice.” .

Artist builds apartment in mall garage, gets probation

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The leader of an artists’ cooperative has been sentenced to probation for setting up a secret apartment inside a shopping mall’s parking garage as part of a project on mall life.

Michael Townsend, 36, said he and seven other artists built the 750-square-foot apartment beginning in 2003 and lived there for up to three weeks at a time.

The artists built a cinderblock wall and nondescript utility door to keep the loft hidden.

But inside, the apartment was fully furnished.

But Providence Police Maj. Stephen Campbell said he and other detectives were so intrigued they visited the apartment to see for themselves.

“I was surprised at what he was able to accomplish,” Campbell said. “But what he did was clearly criminal. The mall is private property.”

From Associated Press reports